George Henry Durrie (1820 - 1863)

John Melton, Bordentown, New Jersey, 1991.

Martha Young Hutson, George Henry Durrie (1820-1863) - American Winter Landscapist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives, (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art/American Art Review Press, 1977), pp. 28-32;

Remi Spriggs, “Living with antiques: An Americana collection in New Jersey,” Magazine Antiques (April 2005), 94-105;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 257-61, fig. 431-7.

New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, "Early Arts of New Jersey, Paintings, Silver, Glass, 1750-1850," January 17 through March 3, 1952.

George Henry Durrie (1820 - 1863) was an American artist whose rural winter scenes became popular when reproduced as lithographic prints by Currier and Ives. He was born in Hartford Connecticut and was a self-taught artist in his teens, painting portraits in the New Haven area. In 1839 he received artistic instruction from Nathaniel Jocelyn, a local engraver and portrait painter. After 1842, he settled in New Haven, but made painting trips to New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Around 1850, he began painting genre scenes of rural life, as well as the winter landscapes that became popular when Currier and Ives published them as lithographs. Four prints were published between 1860 and 1863 when Durrie died in New Haven and six additional prints were issued posthumously. George Durrie painted the Hendrick and Anne Bowne Conover in 1842 (see lot 25 in the Important Americana sale) upon his second trip to Monmouth County, and upon his third trip from December 1843 to October 1844, he painted the Conover's cousins, Martha Ann and her newborn baby Mary.

Martha Ann Meirs and Joseph Holmes were married in 1842 when she was eighteen and he was thirty-two years-old. Jospeh's parents lived in the Holmes homestead built in the 1720s, which still stands in Cream Ridge, New Jesery. The Holmes farm contained 900 acres and has been in the family since the 1690s, an achievement obtained by only three New Jersey families. Martha Ann passed away at the age of ninety-six and Joseph passed at the age of eighty-seven. They had three children: Mary (1844-1923), Sarah (1845-49), and Jospeh Jr. (1849-1941). Mary married James Lawrence Rue, whose father was the president of the railroad that bordered the Holmes farm and was connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad main line.

This lot is accompanied by the original pietra dura necklace that Martha Ann wears in her portrait as well as two photographs of Martha Ann with other family members. In the first photo, the reverse is inscribed Taken Sept. 1, 1885 by O.B. De Morat at the Atelier Photographic, 8th and Market Streets, Philadelphia, and pictures from left to right: Rebecca Conover Meirs (Martha's grandmother aged 79), Mary Holmes Rue age 41, Anne Holmes Rue (Mary's daughter, Martha's grand-daughter, age 17), and Martha Ann Meirs Holmes age 60. The second photo taken circa 1900, pictures from left to right: Mary Polly Meirs (Martha Ann's great-granddaughter), Mary Holmes Rue age 56, Martha Ann Meir Holmes age 75, Anne Holmes Rue Meirs (Martha Ann's granddaughter age 32), and William Meirs (Martha Ann's great-grandson).